


This Is Halloween

by eternaleponine



Series: Love Makes A Family [9]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Foster Care, Halloween, Trick or Treating, selective mutism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 11:44:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21243554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternaleponine/pseuds/eternaleponine
Summary: Halloween is just around the corner, and Clarke couldn't be more excited now that they have children to celebrate with.  Lexa isn't quite as sure, but happy wife, happy life, right?





	This Is Halloween

Lexa knew Clarke liked holidays – any holiday, she didn't discriminate – but she hadn't anticipated just how excited she would be about Halloween. 

"We have _kids_," Clarke said. 

"Yes," Lexa said. "We do." She looked meaningfully toward the backyard, where Aden and Madi were chasing Cricket around... or maybe Cricket was chasing them now, she wasn't sure. It had started as a game of fetch, but while Cricket was great at chasing the ball and bringing it back, she was still working on the concept of giving the ball back so it could be thrown again. 

"She is literally that internet cartoon meme," Aden had joked. "'No give. Only throw.'" She had gotten much better at 'drop it' with anything else she might pick up, but tennis balls were still a sticking point. Sometimes the only way to get her to give one up was to throw another. The trainer they'd consulted had said that it wasn't the worst thing in the world – it was a valid tactic when a dog was chewing something you didn't want them to to offer something okay for them to chew in its place. 

"Works for kids, too," Luna had said. "If you don't want them playing with the remote, your phone, the microwave... give them something they _are_ allowed to play with... and hope it distracts them for more than a minute." (In other news, Jakey was going through a phase where he was obsessed with any and all things electronic, with absolutely no regard for whether said electronics were safe to play with.) 

"That means costumes!" Clarke said. "And jack-o-lanterns! And decorations! Haunted houses, hay rides, trick-or—mmph," she finished – or didn't finish, as Lexa cut her off with a kiss, and Clarke let herself be distracted from listing off all the Halloween traditions they would get to partake in, until the back door opened and they were interrupted by the scrabbling of Cricket's nails on the floor, and Aden reminding Madi to take off her shoes because they were muddy. 

"We don't even know if they like Halloween," Lexa pointed out. 

"Who doesn't like Halloween?" Clarke asked. "What kid would turn up a pillowcase full of free candy?" Lexa wrinkled her nose, and Clarke's jaw dropped. "No. Don't even say it. Don't tell me you hate Halloween." 

"I don't hate Halloween," Lexa reassured her. "I just don't have particularly fond memories of it, either." 

"Of what?" Aden asked, coming into the kitchen and immediately banging into on the corner of the table. "Damn it!" he hissed, then flashed them a guilty look. "I've got change upstairs," he sighed. "Did you move the table or something?"

Lexa pressed her lips together. "It's in the exact same place it's always been, ever since we moved in." 

Aden eyed it suspiciously, like it might have moved of its own volition. He had reached that awkward stage of teenager-hood where he sometimes didn't know where his limbs were, and even the bruises he acquired from accidentally knocking into things didn't help remind him. It was normal, they'd been assured, and he would grow out of it. 

'Along with his jeans,' Lexa had quipped. 

She glanced down, but he was wearing shorts, which still grazed the tops of his knobby knees. Aden followed her gaze, frowning. "What?" he asked. "Do I have something on me?"

"No," she said. "Just thinking that it's finally starting to feel like fall, and we might just make it without you needing new shorts." 

"Oh," he said, his cheeks flushing pink. "Sorry."

Lexa shook her head, reaching out to ruffle his hair. "For what? For growing? You can't help that. It's what kids do."

He ducked away and went to the fridge. "Madi, do you want a snack?" he asked. 

Madi nodded, and that was progress. She still kept her red and green cards in her pocket, and she still used them sometimes, but she was getting better at managing to nod or shake her head to yes-or-no questions. Her spoken vocabulary was still limited to names, though; after Clarke had been Cricket, then Aden, and finally Lexa, and Lexa tried not to read anything into the order. It probably just had to do with the fact that that was the order in which she spent time with the members of the family. 

"Apples and peanut butter?" Aden asked. 

Madi nodded again, then pulled the green card out of her pocket. 

Aden cocked his head, not sure if she was just reinforcing her yes or trying to communicate something else with the card. "Um..."

Madi pointed to the bowl of apples, then to the card, then to the apples again.

"Oh, you want a green apple?" Aden asked, and Madi nodded vigorously. She puckered her mouth into a fish face, and he laughed. "She likes them because they're sour," he said. He glanced at Madi. "Right?" She waved her green card at him, and he grinned. 

Lexa slipped her arm around Clarke's waist, pulling her against her side. "Love you," she whispered, which maybe might seem like it was out of nowhere but actually was in response to the way her heart squeezed in her chest, feeling too big and full to be contained within the prison of her ribs, and Clarke was the biggest part of that, because without her Lexa wouldn't have any of this. Without her—

She cut off the thought, not even wanting to imagine life without her. She didn't even like to remember what it had been like living alone, consumed by her job because it was all she had, except Sunday dinners with her sisters, and she'd even sometimes begged off of those, saying she had a deadline, a big project due, or that she was just too tired. 

She hadn't been lying – Luna and Anya would have seen right through her – but she hadn't always been telling the whole truth, either. Now, though... now she couldn't imagine missing a Sunday. She couldn't imagine going back to a life that was all work and no play. Thankfully, she didn't have to, because with a wife whose love for life was contagious, and two kids who wanted and needed her time and attention, there was no going back.

"Don't have fond memories of what?" Aden asked again, when he and Madi were happily munching on their apples and peanut butter at the counter. 

"Halloween," Lexa said. "Before my mom, it was always just cheap plastic costumes bought from the store, or hand-me-downs from kids I'd never met, and then after... mostly I remember being dragged along with the little kids, and the meltdowns and fighting over who had more candy and how they didn't get the kinds of candy they liked best and bickering over whether a Crunch bar was a fair trade for a Snickers, which it absolutely is not." 

She didn't mention that after Luna had come to live with them, it had been years before she'd been comfortable leaving the house to wander around in the dark with a bunch of people in masks, because she was so afraid of who might be behind those masks, and by the time she'd finally felt safe doing so, they were too old for trick-or-treating for themselves, but they'd sometimes offered to take the kids to spare their mother all the walking and whining. In the interim years, they'd stayed home with Anya while their mom took the kids out, with Anya manning the door and Lexa and Luna saying safe behind their closed and locked bedroom door. (Because you didn't know who might show up at the door in a mask, either.) 

"I don't even like Crunch bars very much," Aden said. "I mean, I'll eat them if it's all that's around, but..." 

"See?" Lexa said. "I knew you were my kid."

And then she froze, realizing what she'd said, wondering if she'd ever said anything like it before, and wondering if it was an okay thing to say. She hadn't said he was her son, and maybe there was enough of a difference that it wouldn't make him think she was trying to take the place of his mom, the one who had birthed and raised him, the one—

Clarke gently pried Lexa's digging fingers from her side, uncurling them and pressing them between her own hands. 

"Sorry, I—" Lexa started, but stopped because Aden wasn't upset. He wasn't frowning or fighting back tears at the reminder of what he'd lost. He was smiling. Grinning, even, like he was pleased by the comparison, by the connection, and maybe there would be some other reaction later, and maybe Lexa would have to deal with it then, but for now... for now he was okay. They were okay. 

"What about you?" Clarke asked Madi. "What's your favorite?"

Madi frowned, considering, then slid down off her stool and came back with her little white board, where she carefully drew an oval with crinkly edges, adding another half circle underneath and connecting them so it looked like a little pie, maybe, then quickly added a jar and a chocolate bar, and pointed to the dollop of peanut butter on her plate and then the drawing of the jar.

"Peanut butter cups?" Lexa guessed, and Madi raised her arms in a gesture of victory, and beamed at her. 

"Good choice," Clarke said. "Definitely one of my favorites, too."

"You know what the worst is, though?" Aden asked. 

"What?" Clarke said.

"Special Dark. _No one_ likes Special Dark."

Lexa laughed. "Not true," she said. "I know someone who does."

"Who?" Aden demanded, looking slightly offended at the very suggestion that someone might actually enjoy the most hated of all Hershey's Miniatures. 

"Anya," Lexa said.

Aden groaned. "I should have known," he said. "She such a weirdo."

"Won't argue with you there," Lexa said.

"Let me guess," Clarke said, "she likes it because it's dark like her soul?"

Lexa tapped her finger to the tip of her nose. "Right in one." 

"Definitely a weirdo," Clarke said, flashing a wink.

"Well she can have _all_ of mine," Aden said. 

Madi pointed to her chest and nodded. 

"Madi's too," Aden translated, with a quick glance at Madi to confirm. She gave him a thumbs up. 

"She'll be so excited," Lexa said. Now that she thought about it, though, she wondered if Anya had really always liked them, or if they'd been an acquired taste after taking them off the hands of so many younger siblings, trading away things she might have liked better to make them happy... Lexa included. Maybe Lexa especially. Because all jokes about dark souls aside, Anya was, and had always been, one of the most empathetic, compassionate, selfless people Lexa knew where her family was concerned. 

"Does that mean you're planning on going trick-or-treating?" Clarke asked. 

Aden nodded. "Me and Tris and some of her – our – friends," he said. He bit his lip. "If that's okay, I mean. We haven't made any definite plans, but—"

"I'm sure it will be fine," Clarke said, and Lexa nodded her agreement. She'd met enough of Aden's friends, and their parents, to be comfortable with the idea of him going off with a group of them for an evening. In this area, it wasn't like they were likely to find themselves in a bad neighborhood, or get up to much in the way of trouble. 

"Do you know what you're going to dress up as?" Clarke asked. "I can help with your costume, if you want. If you need it."

Aden shook his head. "I mean... thank you, but I don't think I need help. I guess it's kind of lame, but we're just going as, um, soccer players." He'd joined the team at the beginning of the year, and Tris had joined the girls team, inspired by the US Women's National Team's World Cup win.

Lexa saw Clarke's face start to crinkle, her jaw dropping, and she pinched her to stop her from saying anything that might discourage Aden. "In your school uniforms?" she asked. 

"No!" Aden said. "That would be _super_ lame. No, we're going to dress up as, um, as famous players. That people would recognize. So it's actually, like, a costume, and not just kids who were too lazy to come up with a costume begging for candy." 

"That's okay then," Clarke said. "What player are you going to go as?"

Aden's cheeks turned distinctly red, and he looked down. "Um. I haven't decided yet." 

"Okay," Clarke said. "Like I said, if you need any help..."

Aden nodded, and shoved a too big chunk of apple in his mouth, nearly choking when he tried to swallow it without chewing enough. 

"Easy," Lexa said. "I don't know if my first aid certification is up-to-date, and your grand—" She stopped herself again. Could she refer to Abby as Aden's grandmother? Was that okay? With either of them? 

"I'm okay," Aden croaked. "Can I go upstairs?"

"Just put your plate in the dishwasher first," Lexa said. 

Aden nodded and shoved the last bite of apple into his mouth, then stuck his plate in the sink and bolted for the stairs with Cricket at his heels. 

"What about you, Madi?" Clarke asked, while Lexa was still trying to figure out where the conversation with Aden had gone sideways, and why. "What do you want to be for Halloween?"

Madi erased her peanut butter cup drawing from her white board and started another, which Lexa couldn't quite make out, especially upside-down, but which Clarke quickly figured out. "A painter?" she asked. Madi made a little check mark on the board. "Any particular painter?" Clarke asked. Madi smirked and pointed to Clarke.

"You can't be me for Halloween!" Clarke said. Madi grinned. "Just a painter, then?" Clarke asked. "Will you wear a beret?" Madi rolled her eyes, and Lexa didn't know if it was because she thought it was a ridiculous idea, or her way of saying, '_Mes oui!_' "What about a mustache?" Clarke asked. "Will you have a silly twirly mustache?"

Madi snorted and shook her head. Now Clarke was just being silly. She turned her attention back to her little board, the tip of her tongue poking out as she concentrated, drawing herself in the costume she imagined: a paint-spattered smock and a beret, and a palette of paints with a bunch of brushes sticking out of her pocket. 

Clarke looked it over. "We can totally do that," she said. "Maybe we can even make it a school project." She winked at Madi, who beamed back, then slid off her stool and started to head for Clarke's studio, where she now had her own little table for her projects. 

"Plate," Lexa said, and Madi turned back around and grabbed it from the counter, depositing it into the dishwasher with a flourish. "Goofball," Lexa said, catching her as she tried to dart past and pulling her into a quick hug before letting her go. She knew she was the slowest to understand when Madi was trying to communicate, and she worried that Madi thought it was because she didn't care, so she tried to show it in other ways. It seemed to be working. At the very least, Madi was polite about tolerating the fact that she came as a package deal with Clarke and Aden and the dog. 

"I was actually going to go get some work done myself," Clarke said. "Unless..." Which sometimes meant, 'Unless you have a better idea while the kids are distracted' but today it was more of an, 'Unless there's something else you really need me to do which I hope there's not but I feel compelled to ask.' 

"The mysterious project you won't let me see or tell me anything about?" Lexa asked. 

Clarke nodded. "You'll find out soon enough."

"Whatever that means," Lexa teased, kissing her lightly. "Go. Paint. I can entertain myself for a little while." 

Which actually meant she would do the laundry, and vacuum the living room, and scrub the bathroom sink, because it kept her distracted from obsessing about Aden, and whether he'd gone upstairs because sometimes teenagers just needed some time and space, or because he was upset, and if it was the latter, whether it was because of something she'd said, or not said, or...

When she ran out of chores that needed to be done (that she didn't hate) she finally admitted it wasn't really working and went upstairs to check on Aden. She knocked on the door, and a second later heard his muffled voice. "Who's there?"

"Lexa," she said. 

Another pause, and then, "Come in."

She pushed open the door and found him sprawled on his bed with Cricket at his side, idly rubbing her fur as he read a book propped against his drawn-up knees.

"For school or for fun?" she asked, gesturing to the book.

"School," he said, heaving a sigh. 

"That good, huh?" 

"Better," he said, rolling his eyes, and smiled when Lexa laughed. "Did you need something?" he asked. "Was there something I was supposed to do that I forgot?"

"No," she said. "You did all of your chores today, except helping clean the kitchen after dinner, since we aren't there yet." She smiled. "Just wanted to make sure you're okay." 

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked. 

Lexa shrugged. "I don't know. You just seemed a little.... flustered, I guess, before you came up. I didn't know if it was because of what I said – almost said – about Abby, or—"

Aden shook his head. "It's not that," he said, fiddling with the edges of the pages of his book. "I don't—" His voice cracked, and spots of color formed on his cheeks. "I don't mind when you say stuff like that. When you, um, call Abby my grandma and stuff. Or, y'know, say I'm your kid. And stuff. I don't... it doesn't make me upset." He swallowed, chewing his lower lip. "Like when people at school ask who you are, I, um..." He looked at her, then looked away again. "I just say you're my mom. Sometimes. Most of the time. When I say who I live with, I say it's with my moms and my sister. And I say we're adopted but like... I don't have to tell them the whole story. Because how else are two moms going to have a baby? So it's just easier. And I like saying it. I like that it's true." He looked at her, hopeful and a little wary. 

"I like that it's true too," she said softly, sitting down carefully so she didn't end up on Cricket's tail. She put a hand on Aden's foot. "If it's not that..."

"It's nothing," Aden said. "I mean, it's not a big deal." 

Lexa smiled indulgently. "Clearly that's not true, or you wouldn't have nearly choked down there," she said gently. "But if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. You don't have to. Just know that I'll listen, any time you need to talk, about anything you need to talk about." 

"I know," Aden said. He looked at her for a long moment, then back at his book, curling in on himself just a little.

"Would a hug help?" Lexa asked.

His shoulders hitched as he sucked in a quick breath before nodding. So Lexa nudged the dog out of the way and reached for him, and he slid into her arms, not crying this time (there had been quite a bit of that in the last few weeks, late at night when things got quiet and all they had were their thoughts) but she could feel his pulse hammering beneath his skin, could practically see his shirt vibrating against his chest with the force of it. 

"I lied," Aden mumbled into her shoulder. "About not knowing who I want to go as. I know, but I just... I don't know if it's a good idea." He shrugged. "But I don't want to lie to you, either."

"Who?" Lexa asked, rubbing his back in slow strokes. 

"Pinoe," he whispered, so quiet Lexa thought for a second she'd heard him wrong. 

"Megan Rapinoe?" she asked, just to be sure. Maybe there was a men's player whose last name was Pinoe, but why would he think she would say no to him dressing as someone she'd never heard of?

Aden nodded. "The rest of the girls – Tris' friends, they're all girls, they're my friends too – wanted to dress up as the women's team, but then Tris was like, 'What about Aden?' And they were like, 'What _about_ Aden?' and she said, 'We can't leave him out!' And so first they thought I should dress up as one of the men's team players only none of us actually know who any of them are." 

Lexa snorted. 

"What?" Aden said. "Do you?"

"No," Lexa admitted. "So then what happened?"

"Then Sara was like, 'What about Pinoe? She's got short hair, and they have dye you can just spray in and wash out to make it purple.' And no one else really has the hair for it, or they didn't want to dress as her because they were worried if they did that people would think they were... y'know..."

"Gay?"

Aden nodded, grimacing. "Not that they have a problem with it or anything. Just..."

"Middle school sucks and kids are mean," Lexa said. "Trust me, I know. Because I actually was."

"Oh yeah," Aden said softly. "Did you get teased a lot?"

Lexa shrugged. "Not too much," she said. Which was true and not true at the same time. She hadn't cared what people said about her (not much, anyway), but she'd gotten into more than a few fights over shit people said about Luna. But that was a conversation for another day, maybe. "Are people still teasing you?" she asked. 

Aden's shrug echoed her own. "Sometimes people say stuff, but it doesn't really bother me."

"Well if it ever _does_ start to bother you, please tell us," Lexa said. 

"I will," Aden said. He looked at Lexa. "You don't think it's a bad idea?"

"Why would I think it's a bad idea?" Lexa asked. 

"I don't know," Aden said. "Just because of what people might say, I guess." His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard, and he looked up at her from behind his slightly overgrown bangs. "Or because they might get really upset and maybe do something worse than just calling me names." 

Lexa hadn't thought of that. She hadn't even gotten to the point of thinking about that, because she'd gotten stuck on her son wanting to dress up as a woman, and whether it might be more than just a Halloween costume, but now that he said it, it was legitimate concern. "I would be worried," she admitted, "but that doesn't mean I would tell you you can't do it. That wouldn't be a very Pinoe thing to do, would it?" she asked. "To not do something because you're afraid of what people might think or say or do."

"No, it wouldn't," Aden said, sitting up a little so they could actually look each other in the eye. "So I can?"

"If that's really what you want to do, then yes, of course," Lexa said. Her stomach would be in knots all day, until he was safely home and tucked in bed, but she was sure there had been plenty of times when she'd done the same to her mother. It just came with the territory. 

"Even though I'm a boy?" Aden asked. "It's not like... taking something away from girls that should just belong to them? Boys already get way more than girls do."

"That's true," Lexa said. "But you said no one else wanted to dress up as her, right?" He nodded. "Is that the only reason you're doing it? To be part of the group, and no one else wanted to?"

Aden's forehead creased. "Also because she's awesome," he said. "Not just in soccer, but the other stuff she does, too, like fighting to get equal pay for women and all that. And being a role model for people, showing them it's okay to be themselves even if they're not what people expect them to be."

"If that's something you believe in," Lexa said, "then I don't think you're taking anything away from anyone. Especially if you keep that message in your heart even when it's not Halloween." 

"I try to," Aden said. "Sometimes I mess up, but Tris and the other girls always tell me when I do, and then I try to do better." 

Lexa bit back a laugh. "That's good," she said. "Because if people are ever truly going to be equal, we need people on both—" She stopped, corrected herself, because there was more than just the binary – "on all sides to come together." 

Aden nodded. "So you're okay with it?"

"If you're okay with the possible problems that might go along with it, then I'm okay with you doing it," Lexa said. She would just make sure to carry a big tub of antacids with her that day.

"I don't care what people call me," Aden said, with enough conviction that Lexa mostly believed him. "I mean, they call me those things anyway, since most of my friends are girls, and they don't seem to understand that it's _because_ they say stupid stuff like that that I'd rather hang out with girls, although sometimes they say some pretty dumb stuff too."

"I would like to say they grow out of it, but unfortunately, a lot of people – men _and_ women – never do," Lexa said. "But you shouldn't have to put up with being bullied because of what people think you are."

"Or what I am," Aden said, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. 

She looked back a him, waiting for him to elaborate or change the subject. 

"Maybe," he added. "I don't know."

"It's okay to not know," Lexa assured him. "You've got your whole life to figure it out. Just know that Clarke and I love you no matter what." 

"I know," Aden said. "It would be kind of hypocritical if you didn't."

Lexa laughed. "I mean, it'll be pretty tough if one day you sit us down and tell us you're straight, but we'll work through it together." 

Aden giggled, pressing into her arms again, and she held him until he was ready to be let go. 

"I guess we better see about getting you a jersey," she said. "And some hair dye." 

"Is Clarke going to be disappointed?" Aden asked. "That there's nothing for her to really help with?"

"Nah," Lexa said. "She's got Madi for that. And maybe, if she really pouts, I'll let her dress me up, too."

"Uh-oh," Aden said, grinning.

Lexa grinned back. "My thoughts exactly."

* * *

When Lexa came home from work one day, she discovered the bushes covered in fake cobwebs with giant plastic spiders perched in them, and several fake gravestones with skeletal hands reaching up from the dirt in front of them. She shivered, her eyes scanning the epitaphs, only to discover they were all jokes – ridiculous puns and outrageous causes of death – and relaxed a little.

When she pushed open the door, she was greeted by a big, fluffy crustacean and two giggling children. "Lobster?" she asked. 

"They didn't have very many choices for bigger dogs," Aden said with a shrug. 

Madi scribbled something on her white board and turned it for Lexa to see. It was, she thought, some kind of bug, with a circle around it and a line through it. She started to frown, but then it clicked. "They didn't have any cricket costumes?"

Madi nodded vigorously, bouncing on her toes, obviously happy that Lexa had understood her. She turned the board back around and drew again, and it took much longer than talking would have, but Lexa waited as patiently as she could. When Madi showed her again, there was a cricket without the circle, with an arrow to what had to be a lobster, and then a person wearing... armor? 

"A cricket... is like a lobster... because they both have armor? Oh, they both have exoskeletons?"

Madi threw her arms around Lexa, beaming at her, and Lexa scooped her up and did a little victory dance, which made Madi laugh, not just an exhale of breath but an actual audible giggle, and Lexa held her tighter, not wanting the little girl to see the tears in her eyes and think she'd done anything wrong. 

"I think it was a great choice," she said when the lump in her throat dissolved. "Very clever."

"And I think she likes it," Aden said. "We put it on her like an hour ago and every time we try to take it off she runs away."

Lexa laughed. "I would say that's a good sign," she said. "She'll have to take it off eventually, though. We don't want her rolling around in the dirt in it." 

"I know," Aden said. "Clarke says we can get pumpkins this weekend for jack-o-lanterns!" 

"Did she?" Lexa asked. "Okay." They hadn't talked about it, but other than one of Aden's soccer games on Saturday morning and dinner at Luna's on Sunday night, they didn't have any plans, so why not? She carried Madi into the kitchen and plunked her down on one of the stools, and Madi immediately reached to snatch a bit of the carrot Clarke was cutting up.

"Hey!' Clarke said. "Watch your fingers."

Madi held them up, showing she still had all ten, then slid off the stool and went back into the living room to try to catch Cricket and get her out of her costume so they could take her outside to play. 

"Hi, love," Lexa said, coming around the island to give Clarke a kiss. "How was your day? I see you were busy."

Clarke smiled. "I was going to ask, but Madi got excited, and we just went for it."

"It's your house," Lexa said. "As long as it doesn't get gory, do what you want."

"That's about what I figured," Clarke said. "Pretend scary, not real scary."

Lexa nodded. "Anything I can help with?"

"Can you get the chicken in the oven? It's in the fridge marinating."

They worked side by side, mostly quiet except for the occasional question or instruction, and Lexa found herself watching Clarke out of the corner of her eye, fighting back a smile as Clarke hummed to herself. She had really settled in to being a stay-at-home mom and homeschool instructor, and Lexa wondered if she was glad to get a break from never knowing when the next job might come or what it might be. She was sure that Clarke would want to get back to work at some point, but for now this was working for all of them, and it made her happy to see Clarke happy, and their children – god, _their children_ \- thriving. 

"So pumpkins this weekend?" she asked. 

"I was thinking we could invite the rest of your family too," Clarke said. "There's an orchard with pick-your-own apples, and pumpkins, and they make their own cider and cider donuts. There's a corn maze and hayrides, and—"

"You don't have to sell me on it," Lexa said. "Whither thou goest and all that." She slipped her arms around Clarke when she set her knife and pulled her in, kissing her more thoroughly than she had before, a promise of things to come when everyone was tucked into bed for the night, and Clarke melted against her, pressing into her so that Lexa could feel every curve, and if they hadn't had dinner to supervise and children likely to walk in at any moment...

Lexa pulled away with a soft sigh. "I'll text Luna and Anya after dinner."

Bedtime couldn't come soon enough.

* * *

They all headed to the orchard that weekend, and Lexa knew it would be apple everything for dessert for the foreseeable future, because once they set the kids loose, they were apple-picking fiends, and they all ended up with more apples than it seemed like any family could possible need. Lexa wasn't sure how many apples never even made it into the baskets, disappearing instead into young (and not so young; she ate two herself) stomachs. She supposed the orchard counted on losing a few that way, because who could resist biting into a crisp apple fresh off the tree when presented with the opportunity? 

When they'd picked and paid for their apples, they took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch, where they had to convince Madi that whatever pumpkin she chose, she had to be able to carry herself. She pouted and walked away from the pumpkin she hadn't been able to wrap her arms all the way around and went looking for one that was a little more reasonably sized. And then it was cider and donuts, and Aden and Tris tore through the corn maze, but Madi refused to have anything to do with it, even when they offered to go with her, and they didn't push. Adria stayed back with her in solidarity, and they found a small playground and took turns pushing Jakey on the swings while they waited for the teenagers to emerge. When they finally came out, grinning triumphantly even as they bickered over who had gotten who lost, Madi charged up to Aden and shoved him, then threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. 

"It's okay," he told her, even as she flashed Clarke and Lexa a bewildered look. "We didn't really get lost." 

She scowled at him and let him go, tucking herself against Clarke's side instead, and Lexa watched as Clarke stroked her hair and rubbed her back until her expression wasn't quite so stormy. "I think it might be time to head home," Clarke suggested. 

"I think you're right," Lexa said. "Madi, do you want to pull the wagon with the pumpkins in it?"

Madi shook her head, still clinging to Clarke. 

"Okay," Lexa said, and grabbed the handle herself, tugging it along after them as they made their way back to their cars. 

"I didn't mean to upset her," Aden said quietly. 

"I know," Lexa said. "It's okay."

"If I'd known—" Aden started, but Lexa shook her head. 

"You still get to have fun," she told him, "even if it upsets your—even if it upsets Madi. That's for us to deal with."

"You can call her my sister," Aden said. "She is, isn't she? She will be, once you can adopt her." 

"Yes, she is," Lexa said. "I just don't want to try to force labels on relationships that you're not ready for. I used to hate it when a foster parent would refer to one of the other kids as my brother or sister when they were barely more than a stranger to me, as if living in the same house with them automatically meant we were supposed to have some kind of connection."

"She's not a stranger," Aden said. "Strange, yes, but..." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, his lips twitching into a smile. 

Lexa reached to ruffle his hair, but he ducked away. "It just hasn't been that long, so I didn't want to assume."

"She's my sister," Aden said firmly. 

"Okay," Lexa said, and that was that.

* * *

Lexa shook Aden awake early on Halloween morning, and he grumbled a little, but when she reminded him that Clarke was waiting for him to come down so she could apply the spray-in color to his hair, he popped right up. "Should I put on the costume first?" he asked.

"Probably," Lexa said after a moment's consideration. "We'll just wrap a towel or something around you so none of the spray gets on it." 

Aden nodded and Lexa left the room so he could get changed. She went downstairs and found Madi already up, helping Clarke get breakfast ready. Her beret was perched on her head, but the paint-spattered smock she would wear over otherwise ordinary clothes was draped over the back of one of the chairs. 

"She didn't want to get food on it," Clarke explained. 

"The only stains it's allowed to have are artfully placed paint ones?" Lexa asked.

"Apparently. Can you do her hair while I do this? She wants French braids and you're better at them than I am."

"Sure," Lexa said, scooping Madi up and spinning her around. Madi laughed as Lexa deposited her on one of the stools and plucked off her beret, carefully parting her hair and braiding it, making sure not to tug too hard. When she was finished, she placed a kiss on the crown of her head, then covered it up with the beret. Madi turned and looked at her, and she didn't need words to convey her gratitude – her 'thank you' was clear in her bright-eyed smile. 

Aden came down a few minutes later and wolfed down his breakfast. He followed Clarke into her studio when he was done, and she put a smock over his costume and had him hold up a little plastic shield to keep the spray from getting in his face, then carefully coated his hair until it was bright pinky-purple, sculpting it into Megan Rapinoe's signature 'do. 

"You look amazing," Lexa said when she saw him. He also looked a little pale, she thought, and she wondered if he was having second thoughts. 

"Thanks," he said, biting his lower lip as he went into the bathroom to get a look at himself. "You really think so?" he asked. "Maybe..."

"I really do," Lexa said. "We should get pictures." Then even if he changed his mind, they would have proof that he'd at least tried.

"Okay," he said. "I should go find my shoes."

Lexa retrieved her camera – she would snap some pictures on her phone, but she wanted some really good ones, too, and phones just didn't have the same options for fiddling with settings to get the exact shot you wanted. Madi tugged on her sleeve and pointed to herself.

"Of course I'll take pictures of you, too," Lexa said. "And the two of you together." 

Madi smiled and went back inside to finish putting on her costume. Aden stepped out onto the back porch, where they had the best light for the shots, and posed with his soccer ball. His smile looked a little strained, and Lexa didn't know what to do or say to help him relax, because she was nervous herself about what might happened when he showed up to school with pastel hair, wearing the name and number of a member of the women's team. 

A few minutes later, Madi burst out with Clarke and Cricket at her heels, brandishing her white board. Drawn on her upper lip was the big curly mustache she had previously rejected the idea of, and she thrust the white board at Aden, then came over to Lexa and grabbed her hand, depositing two lengths of rainbow ribbon into her palm and then insistently waved the ends of her braids at her. 

"Okay, okay," Lexa laughed, tying bows at the end of each one. She heard Aden laugh, and when she was done with Madi, he pulled his little sister into a tight hug. 

"Careful," Clarke said. "You don't want to get mustache on your jersey!" 

Lexa picked up the discarded white board and saw a picture of a boy – she assumed Aden – turned into a girl, and then a picture of a girl – Madi – turned into a boy. 

"She didn't want him to be alone," Clarke said softly. "I know it's not even remotely the same, but—"

"Who cares?" Lexa said, sniffing, because it felt like something Anya would have done for her, or that she would have done for Luna. A token act, maybe, but a display of solidarity nonetheless, and proof that Madi cared about her brother. 

"A few more pictures," Lexa said. "Then Aden has to go to school."

Madi stuck out her lip, but the sulking was short-lived as they posed together, and then with Cricket the Lobster-dog, and by the time they were done Aden had missed his bus, so Lexa had to drive him, but honestly, she was kind of relieved. Tris was waiting for him outside the school, boasting a high ponytail, pink headband, and number 13, along with a few other girls in uniform, and they ran over to him when he got out of the car, surrounding him and slapping him on the back and giving him high fives, and he waved over his shoulder as they moved him toward the school.

All day Lexa's stomach was in knots, waiting for a call from the school, or Clarke, or Aden himself (they weren't supposed to have cell phones in school, but most kids did. Lexa and Clarke's rule was that he could bring it with him, but it had to stay in his locker, and could only be used in emergencies. If he got it taken away at school, it was taken away at home, too. So far, he hadn't gotten in trouble with it, so he was either following the rules they'd laid out, or he hadn't gotten caught. Either way, today she was glad to know he had it if he needed it.

But no call came, only a text from Clarke around the time Aden got home from school.

**Clarke:** He's home safe. A few stupid comments, he said, but lots of people thought it was cool. 

**Clarke:** Mostly girls, but apparently it sparked a debate on the boys' team about who the best women's players are.

**Lexa:** 😅

**Lexa:** Thank you for letting me know. 

**Clarke:** Are you coming home early? Your costume is ready.

**Lexa:** Yes. Costume? 

She didn't remember agreeing to dress up, nor had there been any conversations about what she would dress up as if she did decide to do so. She and Clarke and Luna would be taking Madi and Adria and some of Adria's school friends trick-or-treating, while Derrick manned the door with Jake. Anya would be going with Tris and Aden's group, although she was under strict instructions that she had to stay far enough away that no one would know that she was with them, because they were old enough that they didn't need a chaperone, according to Tris. Which was probably true, but the adults felt better – and Lexa suspected Aden did too – knowing there would be someone nearby in case anything happened. Raven had agreed to go along to help keep Anya in check. 

**Clarke:** You'll like it. I promise. So will Adria.

**Lexa:** We'll see.

She shut down her laptop not long after and headed home, where Aden told her what Clarke had already passed along, but Lexa didn't mind hearing it directly from him, and seeing that he was smiling and a lot more relaxed than he had been that morning. Maybe things really _were_ getting better in the world...

Anya arrived to pick up Aden – she was treating Tris and her friends to pizza before they hit the streets – and they had a quick dinner with Madi before Clarke took Lexa upstairs to reveal the costume she'd made (with help from a friend with more seamstress skills than just sewing on a button or mending a torn seam) for Lexa. "Ta-da!" she announced, gesturing to the robes spread out on the bed. "Your uniform!"

The robes were green, with a gold talon emblazoned on the chest, and they were accompanied by trousers and a jumper and shin and arm guards, and for a second Lexa had no idea what she was looking at, and then it clicked. "Holyhead Harpies!" she said. "The only all-female Quidditch team in the league!"

"Told you you'd like them," Clarke said. "Now get dressed. We don't want to be late!" 

Lexa dressed quickly... only to have to wait for Clarke to finish painting her face. Literally. When she emerged from the bathroom, she'd managed to turn herself into a Cubist painting, and Lexa just shook her head. "You're incredible, you know that?" she asked. "If I knew where your mouth was, I would kiss you." 

Clarke laughed. "I'll show you later," she promised waggling her eyebrows which at the moment also waggled her nose, and part of an eye. 

Madi clapped her hands and dance around when she saw Clarke, obviously delighted at her work. She picked up her palette and paintbrush and pretended to dab a few finishing touches on Clarke's face, and Lexa quickly snapped a few pictures to capture the moment. Then they piled into the car with Cricket (who hated to be left out of anything, and she _was_ dressed for the occasion) and headed to Luna's.

"You look amazing!" Luna said, hugging them all tightly and letting them in. "Adria is going to flip out."

"Mama, where's my wand?" Adria asked, coming down the stairs. She stopped short when she saw them, looking slightly confused – and maybe just a little alarmed – when she saw Clarke, but when her eyes landed on Lexa, she flung herself from several steps up, and Lexa only just managed to catch her. 

"Oof!" she grunted, managing to get an arm around Adria's thighs so she didn't slip down. She was getting too big to be picked up and held for more than a minute, but Lexa wasn't going to be the one to tell her that. Not when she was grinning so wide it looked like her face might split, her arms closing around Lexa's neck in a chokehold. "I can't breathe," Lexa wheezed, and Adria let go, and let herself be set down. 

"That is the best costume _ever_!" she said. "Can I be your biggest fan? I want to be your biggest fan!" 

"Of course," Lexa said. "I see you're making good use of your Christmas present." 

Adria twirled around, showing off her robes. Underneath was a perfect replica of the uniforms the students wore in the films. "Thank you!" she said. "People at school were _super_ jealous. But I can't find my wand!"

"I would say just _Accio_ it," Lexa said, "but you need a wand for that." 

Adria laughed. "Yup!" She looked at Luna. "Mama, have you—"

"It's right on the counter, where you put it so you couldn't lose it," Luna reminded her.

"Oh yeah," Adria said, and ran to grab it. She came back and linked her arm through Madi's. "I like your mustache," she told her. 

Madi made a gesture like she was twirling it and grinned back at her friend. 

"Ready to go?" Clarke asked. 

The girls nodded, and after a quick goodbye to Derrick and Jake, they headed out, wandering from door to door, block to block, with Adria saying trick-or-treat for both of them, while Madi just flashed her best smile and puppy-dog eyes. Occasionally Adria explained that Madi couldn't talk, and at those houses it looked like the pitying homeowner's might have given them extra candy. 

They walked for over an hour, until their legs were getting tired and their bags were getting heavy. They finally trudged back to Luna's house, where they took over door duty so Derrick could get a cranky Jake to bed. The girls spread out their candy on the floor, making sure that none of it was close enough to Cricket for her to snatch without them noticing, because chocolate would make her sick. 

It was almost another hour before Anya arrived with Tris and Aden, and Lexa took tons of pictures of everyone in their costumes. When Derrick came back downstairs, he got a few that included her in her Quidditch robes, and then the kids settled in to swapping their candy, trading things they didn't like for things they did, and piling all of the Special Darks together to be given to Anya. 

"Any problems?" Lexa asked Anya quietly as she munched on one of the little candy bars that had been dumped into her lap. 

Anya shook her head. "Honestly, I don't think most people realized he wasn't just a very flat-chested girl," she said. "Maybe if we'd stayed out later, so there wasn't so many kids and parents wandering around, there might have been problems, but as it was.... he was just one of a mob of soccer players." She shrugged. "Which is I think the best possible outcome."

Lexa nodded. "I guess I don't need this to comfort him, then," she said, bringing up her phone screen to show to Anya. She'd posted a picture of Aden striking Megan Rapinoe's celebration pose from the World Cup and tagged her in it, and she'd commented back saying that he looked awesome. 

"Holy shit," Anya said. "Show him anyway!"

"Show me what?" Aden asked, looking over. Lexa handed him her phone, and his eyes almost popped out of his head. "That's really her?" he asked. "It's not a fake account?"

"Nope," Lexa said. "It's really her." 

Tris leaned over to look, and a second later she was typing furiously on her phone, no doubt telling everyone on the team that Megan Rapinoe – the _real_ Megan Rapinoe – had liked a picture of Aden in his costume. 

Finally, it was time to go home, because they still had school in the morning, although with all the sugar and excitement, Lexa wondered how much sleep Aden would actually get. Hopefully the long shower he would have to take to get the dye out of his hair would help him to wind down. Madi, on the other hand, was half-asleep by the time they got home (and the drive was less than ten minutes) and Clarke carried her piggy-back into the house, taking her into the bathroom to wipe off her mustache and brush her teeth before tucking her in. 

"Today was pretty awesome," Aden said when he emerged from the shower. Lexa thought his hair still looked a little pink-tinged, but if he wasn't bothered, neither was she. "Thank you for letting me do it, even though I know it scared you."

"No need to thank me," Lexa said. "I should be thanking you for being brave enough to do something like that even though it scared you. A lot of people would let their fear win."

Aden shrugged. "Isn't that what being brave is?" he asked. "Being afraid and doing it anyway?"

"Pretty sure someone said that at some point, yeah," Lexa said. "Probably several someones." She pulled him into a hug. "I love you, kiddo," she said. "You're my favorite son."

"I'm your only son," he pointed out. 

"Details," she said. 

"Love you too," he said, the words muffled in her shoulder. 

She held him a little longer, then wished him good night and watched him and his lobster (Cricket was refusing to let them take off her costume again) head to his room. She started to change out of her costume and Clarke came in and closed and locked the door and finished for her, laying her down on the bed and proceeding to undress, showing her that despite the makeup that tricked her into believing otherwise, everything was exactly where it had always been. 

"We're going to have to wash the sheets tomorrow," Lexa commented, noticing the smears of paint that had ended up in the strangest places as she pulled them up over their sweaty, also paint-streaked bodies.

"I think we might need to wash ourselves first," Clarke said. 

"Now?" Lexa asked, because her legs felt like jelly. 

Clarke grinned, displacing a smudged eye in the process. "Don't worry," she said. "I'll make it worth your while..."


End file.
